Golden Dreams

Golden Dreams

Elara's POV
"Focus!" I shouted, throwing another energy blast at the Harbinger.
The dark figure avoided my attack, moving too fast for normal eyes to see. But I wasn't normal anymore. I could track its movements, guess where it would appear next.
Left side, three o'clock, Thorne's voice repeated in my mind.
I spun and fired a bolt of golden light exactly where Thorne had directed. The Harbinger screeched as my magic hit it square in the chest. Its body crumbled to ash, spreading across the floor of the abandoned warehouse.
"That's five down," I said, wiping sweat from my brow.
Thorne stepped out from the darkness, his blue eyes glowing slightly in the dim light. "Your aim's getting better."
"So is our connection." I tapped my head with a finger. "That's the third time today we've communicated without speaking."
After escaping the lighthouse attack three days ago, Thorne had found me roaming the streets in shock. Lyra had been taken, and I had no memory of how I'd fled. Just flashes of darkness and a weird voice using my mouth to speak.
We'd been hiding in this warehouse near the docks ever since, fighting off Harbingers while trying to find a way to free Lyra.
"It's the hybrid blood," Thorne explained, sitting beside me on a wooden box. "The werewolf part of you is bonding with my wolf. It happens in packs sometimes, but never this strong."
I closed my eyes, feeling the threads of magic connecting us. Golden strands that pulsed with every breath. "Can you read all my thoughts?"
"No." He took my hand, and warmth spread up my arm. "Just the ones you want to share. And only when we're close to each other."
I tried sending him another thought: We need to find Sebastian.
Thorne's face darkened. "I got it. And I still don't like it."
"I know you don't trust him," I said. "But we need all the help we can get. The Harbingers are getting stronger, and they have Lyra."
"And the witch council wants you too," Thorne reminded me. "Not to mention my family is hunting us both for betraying the Obsidian Court."
I stood up, suddenly restless. "Everyone wants a piece of me. The witches, the werewolves, the vampires, the Harbingers. But nobody asks what I want."
"What do you want, Elara?" Thorne asked softly.
"To find the other hybrids." The words spilled out before I could stop them. "Ever since the attack at the tower, I can feel them. Six others like me, spread around the world. One of them is just a child."
Thorne's eyes widened. "How do you know this?"
I touched the center of my chest, where a strange warmth had been growing. "I just... know. Like how I know you're worried about your sister right now, even though you haven't addressed her."
He looked shocked. "That's not the telepathy."
"No," I agreed. "It's something else. Something deeper." I closed my eyes again, focusing on the warm feeling. "I can almost see them. The closest one is here in Ravenshadow City. The others are farther away, but I can feel their pull."
"Is that why you've been drawing these?" Thorne picked up my notebook from a nearby table.
I had filled pages with pictures over the past few days. Seven strange symbols that kept appearing in my dreams. Seven thrones placed in a circle. A city split by lightning.
"They're not just drawings," I explained. "They're dreams. Pieces of a puzzle I can't quite solve."
Thorne flipped to the last page, where I'd drawn a child's face surrounded by darkness. "Is this the seventh hybrid? The child?"
I nodded. "She's the strongest of us all. And she's in danger."
A loud crash from outside stopped us. Thorne jumped to his feet, instantly alert.
"More Harbingers?" I asked, readying my magic.
He shook his head, sniffing the air. "Vampires. At least ten of them."
My heart leaped. "Sebastian?"
"Maybe." Thorne moved to the window, peering out carefully. "Stay back."
Too late. The warehouse door burst open, and vampires poured in. But Sebastian wasn't among them. Instead, Lady Sylvia Nightshade stood at the front, her pale face twisted in a wicked smile.
"There you are," she purred. "The abomination and her wolf pet."
Thorne growled, his body beginning to shift. I put a hand on his arm.
Wait, I sent through our link. There are too many of them.
"What do you want?" I asked Lady Nightshade.
"Your blood, of course." She stepped forward, her moves liquid and dangerous. "Sebastian has been keeping secrets. Ancient blood magic. The power of the mixes. Did you know your blood could make vampires walk in daylight again?"
I glanced at Thorne, who looked as surprised as I felt. "Sebastian never told me that."
"Of course not." She laughed. "He wants the power for himself. But the Council of Houses has other ideas."
She snapped her fingers, and her vampires moved closer, surrounding us.
Thorne shifted partly, his fingers becoming claws. "You'll have to go through me first."
"Gladly," Lady Nightshade hissed.
I had seconds to make a choice. Fight and risk death, or submit and become their blood bag. Neither choice seemed good.
Then I felt it—a tug at the edge of my awareness. Another mix, very close now. The warmth in my chest flared hot, and suddenly I knew what to do.
I grabbed Thorne's hand and closed my eyes, summoning my power.
"What are you doing?" Lady Nightshade ordered as golden light began to swirl around us.
"Finding help," I whispered.
The building disappeared. Thorne and I were falling through golden light, pulled by an unseen thread. When we landed, we were standing in a beautiful yard filled with strange, glowing plants.
"Where are we?" Thorne asked, looking around in wonder.
"I don't know," I admitted. "I followed the connection to another hybrid."
"You've found me at last," said a soft voice behind us.
We turned to see a woman with skin like smooth bronze and eyes that shifted between green and gold. Tiny flowers bloomed and died in her dark hair as she watched us.
"I'm Iris," she said. "Second of the seven hybrids."
Thorne tensed beside me. "How do we know we can trust you?"
Iris smiled, and the flowers in her hair turned to butterflies that fluttered around her head. "You don't. But Elara and I share blood. We're sisters in a way no one else could understand."
She turned to me. "You've been having the dreams too, haven't you? The city breaking apart. The seven thrones."
I nodded, stunned. "You know what they mean?"
"They're not dreams, Elara. They're memories." Iris's eyes grew sad. "The seventh combination is showing us what happened before. What will happen again if we don't stop it."
"Stop what?" I asked.
"The Void breaking through." Iris indicated for us to follow her deeper into the garden. "It's happened before, thousands of years ago. Seven mutants were born. Seven thrones were built. And the world nearly ended."
As we walked, the garden changed around us. The plants withered, the light faded, and suddenly we were standing in a different place entirely. A massive stone room with seven ornate thrones set in a circle. Six of them were empty, but in the seventh sat a small figure.
The kid from my drawings.
She looked up as we entered, her eyes totally black. When she spoke, her voice was old and terrible.
"You're late," she said. "The door is already opening."
Behind her, the air split like a curtain being torn, showing a swirling darkness filled with countless hungry eyes.
"What is that?" Thorne whispered, horror in his voice.
The child smiled, showing teeth too sharp for a human mouth. "The end of everything. Unless all seven of us take our thrones."
Iris gripped my arm. "Don't listen to her! It's a trap!"
But I could feel the pull of the empty throne close to me. It called to my blood, to the very core of my being.
"Come home, Elara," the child said, offering a small hand. "Take your place. Only together can we close the door."
Iris was yelling something, but her voice seemed far away. All I could see was the chair and the terrible darkness beyond.
I took a step forward.
And the world broke around me.